According to Ivanovic, Pocket Casts will remain a standalone, open, and premium podcast client in the short term. I’m curious to see how Pocket Casts will change over the next several months though. Large radio stations and podcast companies seem to have a certain affinity for locked-in ecosystems and proprietary listening features at the expense of the open nature of podcasting. I won’t be surprised if Pocket Casts eventually prioritizes programming by the companies that own the app. However, I also hope that the folks at Shifty Jelly will be able to continue making the open, elegant, and powerful podcast app I’ve used over the years.

For those of us who’ve used and enjoyed Pocket Casts, this should be good news and points to a promising future. Some might have pause over content from Pocket Cast’s new owners potentially getting preferential treatment and visibility over other podcasts. But that scenario seems unlikely to me.